Army museum Brussels

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Marcel

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Sep 19, 2006
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I have been to Brussels with my oldest son. We had a very eventful trip, as the train collided with a car on the journey back, making a 1.5h trip into a 6.5h one. We arrived back home at 2.30 am, so I still feel a little tired.

Anyway, the museum in Brussels has a nice, big hall containing plenty of great aircraft. Maintenance is not very good, although it was much better now than with my last visit a couple of years ago. Things are improving.

A Phantom reconnaissance fighter


An original Sopwith Camel in Belgian colours


Some pioneer aircraft, the type of which I'm too tired to remember. I think it was a Voisin


The nose of a Fairey Battle. It's not in a good shape, but it's there.


Mirage III


DH89 Dominie, just restored, looked magnificent.


A battered Hurricane mk II. Clearly hasn't been restored yet. Still in the same dismal state as 5 years ago.


Another view of the Battle


Mirage F1


Junker J-52 Head on. Looked okay.
 
Some more for you guys:

One of my favourite, Me108 Taifun (actually French build Nord 1002 in a very dark corner. Was tricky to photDominii aircraftograph as I detest flash lights.


Auster mk4? There was no sign.


Spitfire on the ceiling with a magnificent window behind it. This mk.IX looked well preserved.


A V-1 that is chased by the spitfire.


A Dr.I replica. Also in a very dark corner, so very tricky to photograph without flashlight. Came out nicely, I think.


A small Renault tank, used in WWI. I was interested in this model as it was the same type of tank used by the Dutch in WWII. We had only one back then, so I don;t have to tell you it wasn't very effective


Fiesler Storch. Surprisingly big aircraft.


Engine and prop of a Sopwith 1 1/2 strutter


Bristol F2B fighter



Last but not least, Brussels by night. This is the city-hall on the famous big-square.
 
Great stuff Marcel. The Auster looks like an A.O.P. 6, with the extended flaps, although I could be wrong.
Nice to see the Dominie, or Rapide in civiilan terms, in those colours. That airline used to operate from the field where my aero club was based for over 70 years, and the club use a very similar badge. The club were forced to move a few years ago, as the airfield is now owned and operated by the local authorities, as Manchester City Airport, Barton.
 
Yes you are right. But the option allows to show details hidden in the dark. Of couse I might have exaggerated a little bit with this and emphasized the noise in the pictures too much. But the final effect depends on a quality of a source picture. Anyway both of your images above are displayed as very dark on my screen. With the correction I can see them quite nicely.
 
Ah, that's why. I kept it this way as it does look good on my screen. I can lighten them up in a better way if you want on the RAW image.
Does anyone else have problems with the darkness of those pics?

Would the following be better, Wojtek?


 
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Love the DH 89 Rapide/Dominie.

The L.A.C. livery, which it wore as of 1947, is sometimes described as being very similar to the war time colour Sky but this looks a bit greener. It's good to see it so sympathetically restored following its chequered history

Cheers

Steve
 
Terrific museum with an amazing collection. The Great War aircraft collection is extensive and many are quite rare. The Battle was formerly from the Strathallan Collection in Scotland. That Hurri does look rather sad; it's sitting on flat tyres, which'll ruin the hubs and the rubber! The aircraft are rather crammed into a large and magnificent building; in that shot of the Mirage F.1, I can count at least ten aircraft.
 
I agree about the building, it looks to be of historical value in it's own right...was it perhaps an old hangar or train station originally?

As far as the collection, very nice!! It looks like you could spend quite a bit of time there!

Thanks for sharing the photos...and by the way, the "dark ones" looked just fine on my screen
 
the buildings are build in the 1880's as a celebration for the 50 years of independance. Somewhere near the enterance the politely explain how the French beat the crap out of us when we wanted to prevent their freedom The buildings were meant to be used for exhibitions from the start. It's an impressive set of buildings, together with an enormous triumph arch. They also contain a car museum, well worth visiting.

When I was there, many years ago, the state of maintenance was very bad, both of the buildings and the aircraft. I was happy to see that they are now trying to improve that. The Hurricane however is still a bad example of how the museum looked like back then. But their collection is magnificent, although a little crowded.
 
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